Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-34737

Asked by: Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 16 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the operation of the Home Report system, taking account of the suspension of Home Information Packs in England and Wales and the impact of this on the housing market there.

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking an interim review of the Home Report which aims to establish whether any alteration is required to improve its effectiveness and operation.

The review, which was commissioned in December following the Home Report''s first year of operation, will also comment on any effect the Home Report has had on the property market in Scotland. After publication this summer, Ministers will consider any recommendations arising from the review. However, there is no question of Home Reports being abolished.

The review is focused on continuous improvement of the operation of the Home Report in Scotland, and draws on evidence and feedback from buyers, sellers and housing professionals who have used the Home Report system. The Home Report is very different to the Home Information Pack (HIP) and therefore the interim review will not consider the early impact of the removal of HIPs on the housing market in England and Wales.

Question reference: S3W-34738

Asked by: Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration has been given to the use of the enrichment culture method test for screening pregnant women for group B streptococcal infections.

The Scottish Government is given independent advice on screening by the UK National Screening Committee. The UK National Screening Committee currently recommends that a national screening programme for Group B Streptococcus should not be introduced. The evaluation of antenatal screening for Group B Streptococcal carriage against NSC Handbook Criteria is available at: http://www.screening.nhs.uk/groupbstreptococcus.

Question reference: S3W-34905

Asked by: Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 5 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the freight facilities grants awarded in the last five years showing the amount of traffic that it was anticipated would switch from road to rail or water as a result of the work being funded.

Question reference: S3W-34607

Asked by: Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its public engagement strategy, as required under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Question reference: S3O-11067

Asked by: Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 24 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to help first-time buyers.

The Scottish Government spent a record £95 million in 2009-10 on continuing to help first time buyers through the Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers. We are now also developing more innovative forms of affordable housing, for example through a £2.5 million New Supply Shared Equity trial being funded in partnership with private developers.

More widely, the Scottish Government previously pressed the UK Government for an exemption from stamp duty land tax on properties bought for less than £250,000 to help first time buyers. The previous UK Government implemented this and we will continue to maintain pressure on the new government to continue this exemption in this difficult economic climate.

Question reference: S3W-34608

Asked by: Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish a report on emissions attributable to Scottish consumption of goods and services, as specified in section 37 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

A decision on the timing and production of this report has yet to be agreed. Estimates of Scottish production emissions in 2010 - that is the emissions created within Scotland during 2010 - will first become available and formally reported during 2012. Determining the level of emissions attributable to the Scottish consumption of goods and services for 2010, and any future years, may only be completed subsequent to production emissions data becoming available.

Question reference: S3W-33499

Asked by: Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 May 2010
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 13 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it provides to playgroup workers to acquire the qualifications that they need for registration with the Scottish Social Services Council as early years and childcare workers.

A range of support is available both locally and nationally. Local government, through their childcare partnership and early years teams, provide advice and support on access to training courses, continuous professional development, and funding for qualifications to meet registration requirements. This support has been in place since 2000.

Nationally, we are working with the Scottish Social Services Council to ensure the registration requirements are as flexible as possible, whilst maintaining progress to achieve a competent, confident and valued workforce. Practitioners and Support Workers registering today, if not already qualified, will have three years to achieve an appropriate qualification. Managers requiring to gain the new SCQF level 9 qualification will have up to eight years to achieve this.

Qualifications are work-based, part-time and recognise prior learning, significantly reducing the time needed to complete a qualification for most workers.

In addition to funding opportunities through local government, the Scottish Government recently changed the eligibility criteria for Individual Learning Accounts. This will ensure much wider access, particularly for those working in the private and voluntary sectors, to £500 per year towards the cost of a qualification. An information pack on all available funding has been produced by the SSSC and is available on their website at www.SSSC.uk.com.

Question reference: S3W-32776

Asked by: Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 16 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-32194 by Jim Mather on 17 March 2010, when it will publish its Report on Policies and Proposals to set out how Scotland will meet its annual targets to be set under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

It is the Scottish ministers'' intention to lay the draft report on Proposals and Policies for meeting annual targets before the Scottish Parliament in September 2010.

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires a period for Parliamentary consideration of the draft lasting 60 days, of which no fewer than 30 must be days on which the Parliament is not dissolved or in recess. It is intended that the final report will be laid before Parliament by the end of the year.

Question reference: S3W-32777

Asked by: Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 16 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish a report on emissions attributable to the consumption and use of goods and services, as required under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

A report on Scotland''s ecological and greenhouse gas footprints 1992-2006 by the Stockholm Environment Institute and commissioned by Scottish Government Social Research was published on 29 October 2009 at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/10/28101012/0.

Section 37 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires Scottish Ministers to lay before the Scottish Parliament a report on emissions attributable to Scottish consumption of goods and services in respect of each year in the period 2010-50. Scotland''s Greenhouse Gas Inventory for 2010 will be available in 2012 so a decision on when to commission the next analysis of Scotland''s greenhouse gas footprint will be taken nearer the time.

Question reference: S3W-32194

Asked by: Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 17 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration will be given to the overall balance of greenhouse gas emissions and savings from the development of offshore renewable energy, including emissions from manufacture, transport, construction, seabed disturbance, operation, maintenance and decommissioning, when assessing (a) individual applications for consent and (b) the contribution of offshore renewable energy to meeting the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 targets for emissions reductions.

(a) As part of an individual application for consent developers are required to submit an Environmental Statement. The associated assessment is subject to wide ranging consultation with statutory bodies and other affected stakeholders.

To assist Scottish ministers in making a determination on an application developers are invited to produce a statement of expected carbon savings over the lifetime of the associated application. Emissions from the various stages of manufacture and deployment will be accounted for under the NSEA as outlined in part (b) to this answer.

(b) The Net Scottish Emissions Account (NSEA), which will be used to measure the targets in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act, measures Scottish emissions using a production-based methodology. Emissions are attributed to the sector in which the production of the greenhouse gas takes place, so that emissions from electricity use are attributed to power stations, and direct (non-electrical) emissions from the manufacture (in Scotland) of wind turbines would be attributed to the industry that manufactures them. Direct emissions from, for example, the transport and construction of turbines are captured in the transport and construction sectors respectively.

Emissions from electricity generation fall within the traded sector and are included in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). For consistency with international accounting methodologies, the NSEA will record emissions from this sector as Scotland''s share of the declining cap set by the EU ETS, regardless of total electricity production or the amount of renewable electricity. However, as made clear in the recent advice from the Committee on Climate Change, meeting the target of reducing emissions by 80% by 2050 will require early decarbonisation of the power sector. Renewable electricity, through displacing fossil fuelled generation, plays a crucial role in achieving this.

The Scottish Government''s Report on Policies and Proposals, to be published in September 2010, is required to set out how Scotland will meet its annual targets from 2010 to 2022 and the interim target for 2020. The report must consider the contribution towards the annual targets that should be made by electricity generation (among other activities).

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act also requires ministers to report separately on emissions attributable to the consumption and use of goods and services in Scotland.